It is conventional to pump or blow loose fill fibrous insulation into attics, walls, etc. of houses and other buildings. It is also known to add a binder, de-dusting oil, anti-static agent and/or fungicide to small pieces of fiberglass, mineral wool or other fibrous insulation in or near a blowing nozzle to prevent settling, sparking and mold, or to reduce dust during installation. Such technology can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,710,309 and 4,804,695, but as stated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,418, these systems suffer from problems of blockage of adhesive nozzles and/or blowing hose. Further, these systems cause the resulting insulation to have a moisture content in the pre-installed product that it is ill-suited for overhead application.
While it is known to spray loose fill cellulose insulation into a wall cavity, to make the insulation remain in the cavity and not fall out, it is necessary to penetrate it with significant water. As much as 2-3 pounds or more of water exists in such insulation as installed in a standard wall cavity formed by the construction of 8 foot, 2×4 inch studs, 16 inch on-center. Such installation takes days to dry sufficiently to allow installation of wallboard. It is also known to add a powdered adhesive to the cellulose insulation to reduce the water needed to allow the cellulose to stick to the wall of the cavity as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,960, but the just-installed insulation contains more than 15 weight percent water based on the dry weight of the installed material.
It is also known to spray clumps of fiber glass insulation, coated with water and a non-foaming binder, into wall cavities followed by rolling at least about an inch of excess insulation thickness down to the thickness of the wall studs, followed by spraying additional clumps of insulation into any thin spots or unfilled cavities and apparently again rolling excess thickness down to the thickness of the studs.
While U.S. application Ser. No. 11/043,747, incorporated herein by reference, discloses generally a method for insulating cavities in a building structure, none of the known methods referenced above are known to be used on overhead surfaces without further modification. In most cases, the mass attributable to water used in the known processes limits the ability of the spray-applied insulation systems to be used effectively in overhead applications. Accordingly, there is a need to provide loose fill insulation, particularly an inorganic fiber insulation, that contains a low, or substantially no moisture content just after installation for insulating overhead surfaces such as ceiling cavities. Additionally, there is a need to provide a loose fill insulation that contains a low, or substantially no moisture content just after installation for insulating overhead surfaces such as ceiling surfaces that will dry more rapidly to a level suitable for gypsum board installation, thereby reducing cost of construction and reducing the potential for mold problems, and which is capable of adhering to overhead surfaces including, but not limited to: OSB, metal decking, corrugated metal panels, natural lumber, open- and closed-cell foam products, and concrete. The present disclosure addresses these needs, and provides a method to produce a superior just-installed insulation product for overhead surfaces.